Rocket Battle Droid - TCW [B] - Basic (No. 25)

Some Battle Droids are supplied with jet backpacks, which enable them to navigate for short distances through the vacuum of space to board Republic ships during battle. Since they do not need oxygen, the droids are useful as part of raiding parties to infiltrate and capture ships.

The Rocket Battle Droid appears to be quite the battle droid that you don’t want to provoke. Also called a “pod hunter droid,” the Rocket Battle Droid scouts and destroys any life pods they find that are floating throughout space. Serving a rather grim position in the Separatist movement, the Rocket Battle Droid looks a lot like a deep space miner more than a reaper of death. Perhaps a better name for this action figure could have been "Flying Coal Miner Battle Droid." Characters from The Clone Wars can be hit or miss. And while we admit there are many great action figures from the television show, some are worthy of getting gonged. This figure is a perfect example of how The Clone Wars franchise has taken poetic license too far to create bizarre interpretations of 'our' familiar Star Wars characters. Rocket Battle Droid without a doubt falls into this category. And while newly revised and new takes on the battle droids are inevitable additions to this line, the figure is honestly not too much to get worked up for since it is rather silly looking. Looking more like an Episode II battle droid than an Episode I battle droid, the Rocket Battle Droid’s newly added floodlight and rocket pack just takes this member of the Separatist Droid Army a bit too far for us. This is a bit tragic, because Filoni apparently intended this battle droid to be bad news, but it is hard to get alarmed when your initial response is to chuckle at its appearance. To be fair, we do like the plot of the Malevolence story arc and we think for the most part it was a great episode in The Clone Wars, but there is something definitely lacking for the Rocket Battle Droid character as well as the action figure.

The Rocket Battle Droid suffers terribly from a combination of bad engineering and even worse packaging. Its placement in the bubble has twisted him terribly and we are getting a bit weary of our action figures consistently getting damaged by the packaging before we even have a chance to open them up and play with them. Even worse, the plastics used here are too rubbery and even if you could straighten the legs, they would likely bow again from gravity. We recommend storing this figure by removing his legs if you keep them in plastic baggies with a bunch of other figures because the weight of the other figures will warp them again. Technology has come so far for action figures (and Hasbro has shown us many advents of bettered technology) so we don’t know why some figures with such delicate frames and features are not reaping the benefits of these wonderful technological advancements. Hasbro has claimed in the past that they have to use softer plastics to avoid breakage and meet requirements, but this is not the way to go. This figure does have some positive points like great color and great likeness, but that is all hindered by the way it has been shoved into the packaging. We would almost prefer at this point to get our action figures in a very static pose in the bubble so that it doesn’t become misshapen from it. We understand that some figures are going to be more prone to getting distorted than others, but we hope that for these Hasbro can package them a little less intensely. Hasbro has said that time allows the figures to revert back to their original shape, but we haven’t had the luck they are claiming.

Rocket Battle Droid is a retool of the original 2008 TCW [B] Battle Droid (No. 7) figure. It has been re-colored in a reddish maroon and also given a new head. A few of the parts of the Rocket Battle Droid have been retooled and these parts give the droid its unique characteristics very faithfully from the television show. Perhaps a few more points of articulation could have been of good use to this droid since the figure is nearly impossible to stand up on its own. Although we won't say "never," we think it will be nearly impossible to stand this figure unassisted. Actually, we exaggerate. But it is a figure that will drive you mad to pose. And to add fuel to the fire, the Rocket Battle Droid is outfitted with a huge gun, and this make posing him even more difficult. On top of its red body the droid also has dark gray details running throughout it body and it does a great deal to enhance the overall presentation. To be honest, the figure looks much better in the packaging than out on its own. This obviously is a great benefit for packaged collectors, but most of us who like to display our figures loose will be pulling out our hair to make it work. This action figure is a small stumbling block in the progression of The Clone Wars line. Most of the other action figures in the line are done so incredibly well, it almost doesn't matter that we get an inferior one once in awhile here and there. And who, knows, you may like this figure very much. Don’t let our anguish with this figure taint your opinions. But if you are looking to army build this figure, prepare yourself for a little frustration. We hope however that Hasbro will use a more durable material for future battle droid figures because the current material just isn’t of acceptable quality for us.